What does everyone think will happen to the regs if they don't spice up the racing like everyone wanted them to?

Road courses are just easy to defend and difficult to block on. You either get a bunch of cars that are very equal, making it difficult to pass. Or you get a wider variance of performance, with the cars not very close together. In my opinion, last year's racing was very exciting. Sure there were a couple of processionals, but you're always going to get that.

I think if they don't work, they may tweak them for a couple seasons before they do another revamp of a big chunk of the regs.

 

Only time will tell.......I just hope they don't go to a "stock spec" like crashcar, I will abandon F1 if it gets to that point. As many of us have said, the beauty of F1 is the technology and engineering.

Let the teams have at it !

 

I think that would be true if we had "normal" management of the sport. We don't--we have Bernie. For example, we've had traditional tracks; now we are having weirder and weirder countries brought into the mix--even India is on the schedule--and night racing. And after years of innovation and research development, boom! we suddenly had "5 years, no engine changes." And now all this talk of trophies determining the world championship, so teams beyond the top three won't have a chance.

I don't see any logical progression in F1. I see more of the fits and starts of a senile madman.

And no, I'm not a fan of Bernie. I wish he would pack it in and get someone who would make some sense of it.

 

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2009/...anica-patrick/

Driver wish list from USF1

 

"She's got a lot of press" looks like the driving reason behind that one....

Is she really the caliber of driver as Massa, Alonso, Kimi, & Hamilton ?

I have nothing against a female F1 pilot, I think that would be great but not sure if Dan is the right choice, though I suppose she's the best choice at this point in time, unless there is an "unknown" out there, perhaps in Europe ?

Off topic but since F1 season is still partially frozen.....what's up with all the harsh words on E Jr. at the 500 ? I thought rubbin' and bumpin' and cuttin' was all the rage Looked to me like he got pushed off the track when he tried to pass and the guy that pushed him got loose and caused the whole thing, funny how things are seen by different eyes.....like exhaust bits falling off but not being a safety hazard or rules being written as the race plays out

 

There is an advantage to having her. She will make Massa look like a big guy. You'll be able to build a car with a lot of capacity for ballast to be moved around. And the team will have someone to wash their clothes for them.

Seriously though. She might just have a bunch of sponsorship dollars, making her more appealing to a team.

 

How does she stack up against Kwik Nick ? He's like a Jockey if not smaller !

 

Her foot stomps when things don't go her way would fit in nicely with the euro crowd! Scott Speed would be nice to see him in a car that was working well. Even have a few from Canada that would work well in a F1 car but not sure how tight the rule "made in America" is?

 

Er I dunno.......her tantrum was for more American than any of the displays I've seen from the Euro crowd

 

Marco for talent (?!) and Danica for well, being Danica

 

Now there's a plan !

It would be nice to see Dan on an F1 podium, she's far more pleasent to look at than the lads....at least for me

Perhaps Marco and Scott Speed for a dynamic duo ?

 

I hope Danika doesn't get a F1 seat. She's not a very pleasant character, she hasn't been that great a driver, and in the paddocks I've visited I've heard more than once that she is difficult to deal with. It seems her only redeeming quality to motorsports is that she has a draw for sponsorship dollars. Unfortunately, pay drives is a reality of professional racing, especially in today's economic situation.

 

Lot of people dumping on Danica before she's even sat her butt in an F1 car to see what she can do.

And Americans wonder why we get a bad rep in European racing circles.

 

Are you claiming Europeans don't dump on their race car drivers? You've obviously never read a British newspaper.

 

Gromit doesn't like Hamilton anyway .......the British press shows no mercy for anyone.

I'm not dumping on Dan, she just hasn't come across as someone as talented as the leading F1 drivers regardless of her being female. I have always been someone to support women and people of other races and so on in predominatly white or male arenas. Equality is a great thing.

I would love to see Dan prove me wrong but I'll bet on a European Woman being the first competitive F1 driver.

Who was the driver years ago that was only there because his dad had $$$$ ? Mark Gene ? Whoever it was, I recall the drivers protesting him because he was dangerous, even as a back marker.

Switching gears:

Looks like Alonso and the Red car are getting closer......

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/160220...onsor-ing.html

 

Hmm, maybe. Ferrari doesn't have a teflon coating against recession. I think if F1 can't get down into the $25M-50M range it's days are numbered as it won't survive the recession.

Personally, I think it may be just as well to see the overpriced series go away. Maybe it's not a bad thing to see us get back to lower tech, more affordable racing. ALMS and Speed World Challenge put on shows that are just as good (if not better) as F1 at a fraction of the cost.

 

The thing is all of that low budget racing already exist.....it is the high dollar, high tec, glamorous image of F1 that makes it attractive, not to mention the history, passion and competitiveness.

We put stuff into space everyday but its the shuttle missions or trips beyond that really capture our interest.

Yeah, F1 has its place. The budgets will be pulled back and the teams will learn to do more with less.

 

Yes, but it doesn't require $300M to be a high tech, top tier series. ALMS and LMS are also high tech and teams operate at a small fraction of what F1 teams spend. I think F1 could be very exciting and high tech and have its place with budgets of 1/10th what they are now. It might even make the racing more exciting when the cars aren't so over-engineered and drivers have to use their skills to compensate.

 

When I used to "street" race and drag race it always seemed to come down to money, very very very few would ever be fastest on a low budget. Only in bracket racing did driver skill really come into play, being fast didn't matter.

Can you imagine roadracing set up the same way ? Where you have to lay down the same lap time as indicated everytime without breaking out but still crossing the line first ? Food for thought, if you want it equal then that's the way to do it.

If you enforced a budget, how would you ever police it ? If you think they're spying and cheating now.......

It may be now that more than ever, the team with the budget will prevail since so many teams will be hurting. In this case it appears Mclaren are staged to look pretty good, unless they're bluffing on their financial well being. Most of the other teams have lost sponsors and proudly say they're OK.

I hope that is not the case, the last thing I want to see is Lewis Hamilton winning every race by a mile. I would much rather see him duke it out just like the last two seasons

 

I'm surprised you guys don't want the young lady in the ad that was on the same page when I clicked the link--Bernie E's daughter:

http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/t...FQNbxwodcAhHNQ

 

she cawn't drive man !

It really isn't fair that you girls get to look at race winning studs and all we get is girls holding name boards

Dan I suppose is the closest we'll get to a race winning beaut anytime soon

 

Doesn't do me any good since my mate sits 5 feet away during races!

 

Speaking of glamourous... how glamourous would a Virgin F1 team be?

I, for one, think it would be awesome!

 

It'd be cool if she gets in. Good for her. She wouldn't be the first to come into the sport with less than stellar credentials.

As for her never being in an F1 car. As I recall, she got a test with Honda after her win. Naturally, Fry was very complimentary. But I don't remember how competitive her times were with other Honda drivers in testing during that time in the season.

I'm curious how much Bernie would push back if she entered the sport. He's made it clear that he doesn't think very much of her racing in F1.

 

http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2009/...bidder-virgin/

More info about Virgin and the Honda buy